59% of Indian companies report financial fraud; procurement fraud top concern: PwC survey

New Delhi [India]December 18 (ANI): A whopping 59 per cent of Indian companies experienced financial or economic fraud in the past 24 months, according to PwC’s ‘Global Economic Crime Survey 2024 – India Outlook’.

PwC India highlights that this is an increase of 18% compared to the global average of 41%, with domestic growth of 7% since the 2022 survey.

Latest survey results highlight procurement fraud as the biggest threat facing Indian businesses, with 50% of respondents citing it as a major issue. This reflects a significant jump of 21% compared to global concerns. In comparison, customer fraud has been replaced as the main problem faced by 47% of Indian businesses in 2022.

Globally, cybercrime remains a major problem, with 44% of leaders citing it as the top threat.

Puneet Garkhel, Partner and Leader, Forensic Services, PwC India, commented: “Customer fraud topped the list in our 2022 survey, with 47% of companies reporting it. However, this year’s survey The results show that procurement fraud is now a top issue.”

While Indian companies are using data analytics to combat procurement fraud, with 52% analyzing transactions before and 46% post-transaction, only 37% employ real-time payment monitoring to stop suspicious transactions.

The survey suggests effective fraud prevention strategies, including strengthening processes, revising vendor selection, enforcing conflict of interest policies and training employees. However, only 44% of Indian respondents use data analytics to spot unusual bidding patterns.

The survey also showed that about 33% of economic crimes were related to corruption and bribery, while 26% of respondents in India considered corruption to be one of the three most damaging economic crimes in the past 24 months. Some 82% of Indian respondents said they were confident or very confident in their company’s compliance program’s ability to reduce corruption risks.

Globally, 77% of business leaders said they were confident or very confident in their company’s efforts in this regard, the survey added.

About 20% of Indian company leaders believe that corruption (i.e., conduct related to corrupt or improper payments to government officials and/or business clients) has increased in the past 12 months, PwC said , while 34% of company leaders said corrupt practices had decreased. India added.

PwC’s survey shows pressing concerns about forced labor across industries from manufacturing to fashion, agriculture to hospitality.

In India, 16% of companies are actively addressing this risk, 24% are assessing it, 26% are unaware of its importance within their organization and 19% are aware of it, the survey added This risk, but lack of assessment plan. (Arnie)